Queen's Golden Gaels

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 Queen's Golden Gaels Logo
Queen's Golden Gaels Logo

The Queen's Golden Gaels are the athletic teams that represent Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Team colours are blue, red and gold. Its main home is Richardson Memorial Stadium.

The name was coined in 1947 by Kingston Whig-Standard sports reporter Cliff Bowering after the football team traded its traditional uniform of red, gold, and blue bands for gold jerseys, gold helmets, and red pants. The name caught on and became the familiar term for Queen's teams by the 1950s. "Gaels," of course, is a reference to Queen's Scottish heritage (Queen's University was established in 1841 by the Presbyterian church). Before 1947, Queen's teams were commonly known as "The Tricolour."

Their rallying cry is the "Oil Thigh", a fight song sung in Gaelic by spectators when the home team scores a point, goal, touchdown, etc. Originally written in 1898 after a disappointing loss to the University of Toronto, the name comes from the phrase sung repeatedly in the main chorus: "Oil thigh na Banrighinn a'Banrighinn gu brath", or "College of the Queen forever" in Gaelic. The song has the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic; its English verses about the rivals of Queen's College alternate with the Gaelic chorus.

Queen's teams have had a variety of successes on the national and international stages over the university's history. The Golden Gaels football program is one of the oldest and most successful in Canada, boasting a total of three straight Grey Cup victories in the early Twentieth Century (1922, 1923, and 1924) and three Vanier Cup victories as the top team in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (1968, 1978, and 1992). However, many of the Gaels' teams in less popular sports have had more success recently than the football program. An example is the women's soccer team, which, in 2006, earned silver medals in the CIS national championships, thanks largely to star striker Eilish McConville.[1] McConville led all CIS players with 22 goals during the regular season, and was named the CIS Player of the year as a result. [2] The success of the soccer program and other teams in less well-known sports demonstrate the university's commitment to its stated goal of "sport for all," also reflected in how it continues to field more men's and women's teams at the Varsity level than any other university in Canada.

Contents

[edit] Current Football Roster

Players' years of enrolment are noted in italics

[edit] Offence

Quarterbacks

  •  5 Danny Brannagan 2nd
  •  0 Max Bruce 3rd
  •  - Michael Melito 1st
  •  4 Jansen Shrubb 2nd
  • 12 Ibrahim Zylstra 3rd

Runningbacks

  • 35 Billy Burke 2nd
  • 34 Mike Giffin 3rd
  • 27 Marty Gordon 3rd
  • 30 Neil Petrin 1st
  • 36 Jimmy Therrien 1st

Inside Receivers

  •  8 Rob Bagg 4th
  • 81 Brandon Baronaitis 1st
  • 70 Jamie Bull 1st
  • 84 Chris Ioannides 1st
  • 88 Devin Sheahan 1st
  • 83 Scott Stinson 3rd
  •  3 Mark Surya 1st

Wide Receivers

  • 86 Colin Eadie 1st
  • 85 Blaise Morrison 1st
  • 80 Alex Patrick 2nd
  • 11 Brad Smith 4th
  • 82 Scott Valberg 3rd

Offensive Linemen

  • 50 Dan Bederman 1st
  • 64 Colin Boyle 2nd
  • 60 Ryan Freeman 5th
  • 51 Mike Gorman 1st
  • 53 Cody Kennedy 4th
  • 55 Jon Koidis 2nd
  • 56 Pat Mccalmont 2nd
  • 52 J.P. Morgenstern 2nd
  • 66 Sean O'Donnell 4th
  • 59 Brett Williamson 1st
  • 58 David Van Den Heuvel 3rd

[edit] Current Hockey Roster

"Year" refers to athletic eligibility, not enrolment at Queen's

Goaltenders
# Player Year Hometown
1 Ryan Gibb 1st Toronto, Ontario
30 Curtis Murray-Waters 1st Windsor, Ontario
35 Tyler D'Angelo 1st Ottawa, Ontario
Defencemen
# Player Year Hometown
4 Cameron Chapman 4th Collingwood, Ontario
15 Pat McDonough 3rd Burlington, Ontario
24 Alex Archibald 3rd Bedford, Nova Scotia
5 Ben Heersink 2nd Oakville, Ontario
3 Andrew Thorne 1st Oakville, Ontario
6 Grant Horvath 2nd Calgary, Alberta
22 Kyle Cassidy 3rd Niagara Falls, Ontario
Forwards
# Player Year Hometown
10 Brad Walford - C 5th Mississauga, Ontario
18 Jamie Brock 5th Burlington, Ontario
20 Jeff Ovens 4th King City, Ontario
12 Brian Moore 4th Calgary, Alberta
25 Andrew Gilbert - A 4th Toronto, Ontario
17 Clinton McCullough 2nd Toronto, Ontario
19 Neil Poulsen 4th Brockville, Ontario
42 Craig Johnston 3rd Sharon, Ontario
7 Sam Colizza 2nd Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
9 Rob Catallo 2nd Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
27 Brady Olsen - A 3rd Enterprise, Ontario
28 Pat Doyle 1st Smith Falls, Ontario
21 T.J. Sutter 1st Redvers, Saskatchewan
13 Jon Asselstine 4th Barrie, Ontario
23 Blake Pronk 1st London, Ontario
16 Billy Burke 2nd Newmarket, Ontario

[edit] References

  1. ^ A summary of the team's performance leading up to the championship match can be found here.
  2. ^ The CIS press release announcing McConville's award can be found here. A story in the Queen's Journal on the championship match can be found here.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links



Queen's University

Academics

Faculties and Schools:
Faculty of Arts and Sciences: School of ComputingSchool of Kinesiology & Health StudiesSchool of Environmental StudiesSchool of EnglishSchool of Music
Faculty of Health Sciences: School of MedicineSchool of NursingSchool of Rehabilitation Therapy
School of Graduate Studies and Research: School of Policy StudiesSchool of Urban and Regional Planning
Faculty of LawSchool of BusinessFaculty of Applied ScienceFaculty of EducationQueen's Theological College
Programs: Enrichment Studies

Athletics

Queen's Golden GaelsOil ThighQueen's-McGill Rivalry

Campus

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Student life

AlumniAlma Mater SocietyThe Queen's JournalQueen's BandsGolden WordsQueen's PlayersCFRC-FM